


Light from Darkness (WAdvent Day #14)

by gardnerhill



Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Book: The Hound of the Baskervilles, Christmas, Gen, Watson's Woes WAdvent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28077444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardnerhill/pseuds/gardnerhill
Summary: Signs of recovery at Baskerville Hall.
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Comments: 17
Kudos: 15





	Light from Darkness (WAdvent Day #14)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the December 2020 Watson's Woes.

When Sir Henry sent an invitation for Sherlock Holmes and I to spend Christmas at Baskerville Hall we agreed at once. As our own Christmases were simple things (a shared goose, an exchanged gift or two, a glass of wine), neither of us needed to change any great plans to come to Dartmoor.

The dark sombre manse I remembered from the bizarre case two years before had been transformed by the touch of its new master. Electricity now blazed out from the hall like a lighthouse at the edge of the moors, beckoning all to safety. Within, the holiday décor was lovely and rustic, featuring pine boughs and clusters of holly from the nearby woods. Sir Henry had hired a phalanx of servants, all presided over by the Barrymores as butler and housekeeper; the lofty residence was now as airy and open as the winter weather permitted. People from the nearby towns and farms came and went, from the mayor to the woodsmen who had provided the festive greenery (we even saw the contentious lawyer Franklin in attendance).

Even better was the change we'd hoped to see, and the true reason for our travel. Sir Henry Baskerville himself was fit and sound and well once more, completely recovered from his savaging by Stapleton's starved brute of a mastiff. His nerves were equally recuperated from the terror and shock of the assault on the moor. He laughed to see us, striding forward. "Mr. Holmes! Dr. Watson! I'm so glad you've come!"

Our former client was not alone. Beryl Stapleton was also at the holiday gathering. She too was a changed person; she smiled and laughed with no hint of shadow or fear in her face now, her nerves as well as her body recovered from the monstrous brute to which she had been wed. Our own hearts lightened to see the change in both.

The best moment of all was when Sir Henry and Beryl asked the pair of us to join them in the den, only the four of us. In truth, we were not surprised when Beryl showed us the engagement ring Sir Henry had given her three months before.

But it was when Sir Henry called for "Hugo" – and a gigantic black-spotted Great Dane trotted into the room, affectionately butting his head against both master and mistress to receive an ear-scratch – that Holmes and I laughed for joy.


End file.
